News & Announcements

Crossing Cross-Platform Media with Traditional Offset

Category: Print

Commercial print shops are taking advantage of the unique capabilities of both offset and digital printing. These diverse services each offer a spectrum of possibilities from offset's extensive substrate options to digital's well-defined, vibrant color.

The option of flexibility is available to the customer as a project can be done with both long and short runs as well as with static or variable data. This brings up the option of using paper for versatile platforms, which has been accommodated by paper manufacturers who have expanded the range of substrates which are compatible with digital presses. While cross-platform papers have not yet been adopted by the majority of paper makers, the exponential rise in digital printing the need for true cross-platform papers, papers performing with ink or toner imaging, is almost critical.

The efficiency and the flexibility of paper manufactures is due to the printer's need to use one brand of paper that is easily distributed to the shop's equipment and portfolio. Overall, the industry shift to digital has breathed life to bright, economical and coated sheets available in a full spectrum of text and cover weights.

Posted on Jan 26, 2010.

So, What Exactly is the PURL?

Category: Business

You may be one of those savvy business representatives or salespeople, possibly even a marketer who doesn't know as much as they should know about PURL's. Yes, indeed, the PURL is a mini site, but it is also a powerful tool.

You may be one of those savvy business representatives or salespeople, possibly even a marketer who doesn't know as much as they should know about PURL's. Yes, indeed, the PURL is a mini site, but it is also a powerful tool… By definition, personalized URL's are unique and pre-generated URL for print or email recipients. These recipients get taken into a magical vortex of personalization, familiarity, understanding, effective communication and so forth. Based on the demographic information, or anything else that exists in a marketer's database, the site takes on the customer's identity.

The personalized URL has a four part structure: a landing page/home page, a survey page, information page and a thank you page. This self-contained architecture is unique to these applications.

The term has been misused and mixed up with the concept of sites that created from static URL's. Some marketing tactics have relayed the concept of PURL's into a site that is user personalizable, but in this case, the URL itself is generic. Another model, commonly confused with the Personalized URL is the approach data acquisition model which captures personal and demographic information on visitors in order to target them. Similarly, Response Tracking URL's create multiple landing pages to track different types of data for geographic locations, messages or to test elements of the campaign.

So, why are personalized URLs so compelling to marketers versus banner or newspaper ads? Well the PURL is not a broadcast medium, rather it enables a dialog with a well-defined target audience, often this is the customer base or a prospect customer with a similar profile to the existing customer. The campaign does not necessarily need to sell something off the bat; it could solicit information but only to dialog and use for target communications in the future.

PURL's, otherwise known as targeted solutions to marketing goals, are an excellent avenue for the generation of a pre-qualified list of prospects, sales presentations and to trigger cross-sell products among many other uses. Visit www.mp4print.com to understand how they may benefit your business and marketing agenda.

Posted on Jan 25, 2010.

OTC Systems, Inc's New License

Category: Business

OTC Systems, a leading provider of direct marketing, variable data publishing and lead generation services based in London, Ontario and Canada licensed the Pageflex Server and the Pageflex Cross Media Module. With the addition of Pageflex Storefront, OTC Systems will be able to add more depth to the range of the web-to-print services which they provide.

With a self-developed web-to-print solution in place, in the past, OTC Systems was able to deliver highly customized business-to-business solutions from a remotely hosted environment. With the expansion of their services into the consumer market, they have been able to provide e-commerce tools, like shopping carts, skinning as well as integrated e-commerce features-to easily redistribute sites that are geared towards the customers.

The rapid growth in the business-to-consumer marketplace is supplemented by making marketing more accessible and controllable. The storefront is a place for the customer not only to manage but also to develop variable marketing programs. Pageflex Storefornt offerspersonalized URL's, dynamic imagery, on-line editing, web-to-print outputs, integrated postage, Customer Relationship Management (CRM), corporate data analytics, production automation, and more, all of which is based in an on-line, easy to use interface.

As an enterprise solution, Pageflex Storefront is a way to create one's own variable publishing solution as well as create and manage online targeted communication using print, e-mail and personalized web-sites. The possibilities with Pageflex Solutions are endless and furthermore,"I am sure that [the] spirit of innovation will continue to generate remarkable solutions." Anna Chagnon, Bitstream President and CEO, said.

Posted on Jan 21, 2010.

Digital Fuels Print Industry Growth

Well, for starters, there is an immediate turnaround. In a world where time is money a competitive edge usually houses a 24 hour turn around period that eliminates the traditional make-ready process and files are pre-flighted, printed and delivered at a speed that is reshaping the industry. As offset continues to decline, electronic source files and jobs are becoming the norm. The demand for advanced services from print providers have driven results, increased productivity and escalated profit for both the print provider and the customer. As a result, high quality print services now offer premium and high profit products and services.

An immediate turnaround is only the tip of the ice berg. In addition, digital printing prints precise quantities on demand-thus reducing waste, they offer short run color (Strategies for Management estimates that four out of five four-color print jobs have run sizes of 5,000 or less) and personalized and customized content, they house value-added services such as fulfillment, database archiving, management and easy access online submission of print jobs and other web-based services.

Digital print is not just trendy, it is also efficient, less costly and customizable!

Posted on Jan 20, 2010.

Marketing Your Services

Category: Business

Marketing your business services, in essence, is an art form rooted in knowing your market inside and out. This is the single most important component to your campaign and should be treated like a plant in a ceramic pot sitting on your office window sill. You must accommodate it's every need to keep it alive and flourishing.

Let's start with defining your business. What are your business goals? In order to be a successful company, you must maintain a target focus. Master an approach to three or four major industries. As you specialize in these industry segments, you will have in your possession, the knowledge required to cater to their needs and increase your competitiveness. Illuminate all of your success stories within these industries to sell yourself into new business accounts.

Your marketing material is your identity. It should represent your brand and services. The more creative you are with your design and copy, the better chance you have to platform yourself as not just a role model, but a leader of your field. This component introduces us to the next element: your industry profile. Reach out to external organizations and participate in their programs. This is a great way to showcase your work and contribute to the community. You may consider trade shows, open houses and most importantly volunteer work. These are great avenues for showcasing your capabilities.

Return on investment (ROI) is most clearly demonstrated with direct marketing. The best way to increase the return on your investment is through target marketing. This is done by picking through large amounts of your customer data and specifying your campaign and content towards a particular demographic and sale. This element will help you to build your appeal not just to prospects but also to your existing customers.

Remember, you have many audiences: your customers, your community, the media and your employees. Tailor your strategies and activities to your purpose with each of them.